AFTERMATH
What we know so far about the assassination attempt against President Trump
July 14 - the day after President Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Yesterday, preliminary reports and allegations swirled in the aftermath of the shocking turn of events.
Some reports said that an Antifa member, Mark Violets, may have been responsible for the shooting. This was unconfirmed, as you may recall. Photos of the alleged Mr. Violets surfaced on social media, but it was obvious that the shooter’s body, even from a distance, bore no resemblance to what was being shared online.
As is often the case, more solid facts have begun to emerge now that the dust has settled.
Here’s the latest. Please keep in mind that these are just reports. The situation is still developing and yielding more information.
What we know about the shooter
Video footage that surfaced online shows the alleged shooter on the roof of a building roughly 160 yards away from the stage where President Trump was speaking in Butler. The shooter appeared to be in plain sight, dressed in light-colored fatigues that blended into the tan color of the building he was positioned on.
One eyewitness told media that he alerted both law enforcement and Secret Service that he saw a man on a roof with a rifle BEFORE the shooting took place.
A second eyewitness told CBS News that he watched the alleged shooter move from one building to the next before shots were fired. He says he tried to tell law enforcement what was happening.
Reports now state that the shooter was allegedly 20-year-old Thomas Crooks. The New York Post reported that Crooks was a registered Republican who was wearing a Demolition Ranch graphic tee at the time of the shooting.
Reports also indicated that Crooks allegedly donated to ActBlue when he was 17, which is a Democrat organization financed by plenty of dark money sources.
SUSPICIOUS: The now deceased Mr. Crooks was allegedly in a BlackRock commercial in 2023 at Bethel High School in Pittsburgh. For reference, BlackRock manages around $3 trillion in assets. While they certainly don’t own all the major corporations in the world, they own many of them, including Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet.
OTHER UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:
Why did law enforcement or Secret Service fail to respond swiftly to alleged reports of eyewitnesses regarding a man with a rifle? If they did respond at all, they obviously failed to stop the shooter from taking shots at Trump and others.
UPDATE: Today, a new report stated that a law enforcement officer supposedly encountered Crooks on the roof of the building just before he took shots a Trump. Crook allegedly pointed his gun at the officer, who then backed down the ladder. Crook then took a series of unfocused and rushed shots at Trump, per the report.
How was the shooter NOT seen by snipers protecting the president? The shooter was not very far away from the stage. He was extremely close, and even bystanders from the ground saw him on this roof.
Video captured online appears to show the sniper who took the kill shot on Mr. Crooks hesitate until AFTER the shot that pierced President Trump’s ear was fired.
What do you think? Did the sniper hesitate? It seems obvious that he had Crooks in his sights.
For the sniper, the rogue shooter was an unknown individual within what should have been a secure perimeter. The consequence of being on a roof and aiming a rifle at a president’s head should have resulted in immediate termination - am I correct? Again, what do you think, readers?
The question is - why wasn’t the threat immediately neutralized? Why weren’t reports about the shooter’s presence immediately dealt with? How could snipers on the roof protecting Trump NOT have seen Crooks when he was THAT easy to spot? Why was he able to get off multiple shots and nearly kill Trump before any action was taken to stop him?
Was this a simple failure in security from the Secret Service? Was this the failure of private security details? Was this an inside job? Who hired Crooks to do the shooting - or was he really a lone wolf?
Do we really believe Crooks - a string bean of a kid, based on photos - was lucky enough to scale a roof in broad daylight and take potshots at President Trump before highly trained snipers were able to kill him?
Are we okay with the fact that the Secret Service agent on the president’s right side was too short to shield the side of his head from further shots with her body as he was escorted off the stage?
How could such a thing be allowed to happen? It is unthinkable that there could be such a massive failure in security, and yet, it happened.
What does this mean?
Tragic ripple effects
The would-be presidential assassin failed to do the unthinkable, but there has been a steep price to pay, nevertheless. A rally attendee, former fire chief Corey Comperatore, lost his life while shielding his daughter from bullets, according to a Facebook post written Allyson Comperatore.
“He was the best dad a girl could ever ask for. My sister and I never needed for anything,” she wrote.
Another rally attendee was reportedly critically wounded.
The president has approved an official GoFundMe account for the victims of the shooting. More than $2 million was raised in less than 24 hours for the victims. You can donate HERE.
Unstoppable
Trump hit the golf course on Sunday morning in Bedminster, New Jersey. The man got shot yesterday and hasn’t slowed down.
Today, he issued a statement doubling down on his intention to attend the Republican National Convention and accept the presidential nomination this week:
Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a “shooter,” or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else. Therefore, I will be leaving for Milwaukee, as scheduled, at 3:30 P.M. TODAY. Thank you! DJT
IMO this was an inside job. Anyone who has ever seen the USSS prepare for a presidential visit knows they don't miss ANYTHING and they spare no expense. They typically send an advance team at least a week prior to the event to assess the site, travel to and from the event, and prepare counter measures and/or close roads and buildings and secure sites for themselves to operate from. Strategic high ground is ALWAYS a major concern. There is no way they would not have secured this rooftop with a direct line of site to the speakers platform. This was intentionally overlooked. When the shooter was spotted, there were many things that took place that indicated they did not want to take action until the shooter had got a shot off. Just like other disasters under Biden excuses will be made, investigations will happen, but nothing will be done to prevent this from happening again because the Biden administration was behind the assassination attempt..
Answered prayer.